Due to schedule conflicts, I decided to take my weekly lesson on Monday night. My trainer's arena is fully lighted and with a full moon out, there were definately no issues. However, it was cold. Very cold.
Max and I got a very good workout and we concentrated mostly on leg position and especially the two-point stance. My legs and upper thigh muscles were screaming for mercy by the end of the evening! It's good training though and I've been progressing pretty well- it's really a matter of building up muscle strength, especially since these are areas that normally don't get a lot of work in everyday life.
I also worked on controlling the legs by riding with one leg on, one leg off and alternating sides. I also practiced removing both legs and finding the balance point. This is faily simple without using stirrups but a bit more tricky with them since you don't want to put any weight on the stirrups or use them as a crutch and thereby thow off your seat.
I also practiced roll-backs and cantering from the halt with Max and I think we're getting better at it and I'm better able to get Max to use his haunches and rear legs to launch off. It's a bit intimidating because it feels like the horse is rearing but in reality, he's getting himself ready to spring forward, much like a coiled spring. I was also successful in bringing him to a full halt from the canter and keeping him from dancing about at the halt (for the most part); it's a lot better than when I first started doing this some four months ago.
We wound up doing a lot of cantering so by the time we were done, Max was sweating (and so was I to a lesser extent). After having him stand for about 15 minutes with the cooler, I allowed Max to roll in the arena and then put him away. It was a good workout.
Max and I got a very good workout and we concentrated mostly on leg position and especially the two-point stance. My legs and upper thigh muscles were screaming for mercy by the end of the evening! It's good training though and I've been progressing pretty well- it's really a matter of building up muscle strength, especially since these are areas that normally don't get a lot of work in everyday life.
I also worked on controlling the legs by riding with one leg on, one leg off and alternating sides. I also practiced removing both legs and finding the balance point. This is faily simple without using stirrups but a bit more tricky with them since you don't want to put any weight on the stirrups or use them as a crutch and thereby thow off your seat.
I also practiced roll-backs and cantering from the halt with Max and I think we're getting better at it and I'm better able to get Max to use his haunches and rear legs to launch off. It's a bit intimidating because it feels like the horse is rearing but in reality, he's getting himself ready to spring forward, much like a coiled spring. I was also successful in bringing him to a full halt from the canter and keeping him from dancing about at the halt (for the most part); it's a lot better than when I first started doing this some four months ago.
We wound up doing a lot of cantering so by the time we were done, Max was sweating (and so was I to a lesser extent). After having him stand for about 15 minutes with the cooler, I allowed Max to roll in the arena and then put him away. It was a good workout.
No comments:
Post a Comment